Muggle Boy
by Naiva
Summary: After the 6th Harry Potter: Draco Malfoy must go into temporary exile for his own good -- according to Snape. Relieved of his wand and forced to become a muggle, the furious Draco is enrolled into a creepy boarding school. Studying magic secretly. weekly
1. Prologue

disclaimer: I don't own anything created by J.K. Rowling.

AN: This is a follow up story to my one shot, Two Empty Shells. I think that you can defiantly understand and appreciate this story without reading Two Empty Shells, but I encourage you to read my one shot anyway.

Muggle Boy

For someone I have not met yet.

Prologue

Bus Stop

Rain spilled from the dark sky in heavy drops that splattered noisily as they hit the ground, spraying Draco's socks with icy water. The deserted black road stretched on forever in both directions like a ribbon that kept the earth tied in place. The pavement shimmered in a slimy sort of way under the single street lamp that illuminated the lonely bus stop, the wet bench, and the frightened boy sitting on it. It was a solitary bubble of light that was sure to burst from the darkness all around.

Draco was grateful for the light. He was terrified of the thought of being alone in the dark…and not being alone. He'd had enough of that for a lifetime.

Nausea swept through his insides and he found it hard to keep the memory, so fresh in his inner eye, away. He was still breathing heavily. The thin white shirt he was wearing was soaked thoroughly and clung to his sweating chest. It had become a translucent gauze and showed through to his pale skin. To steady his heart, Draco put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. That seemed to help.

Feeling angry, frightened, and sick all at the same time, the only thing that Draco knew for sure was that he was getting out! He would get out of Badger's Drift that night! Nothing could stop him from hopping on a train to London! He did not need his books and things; all he wanted was his wand.

He would find Snape and demand, even beg for his wand back. Now, more than ever before in his life, he would know exactly how to use it! Draco felt the bitter irony in the fact that now that he did not have his wand, he felt more capable in his magical abilities than ever before. Even if a swarm of his father's old allies came swooping down on him the second he had his wand in his hand, at least he would know what he was up against.

Death Eaters. Draco shivered and felt his stomach convulsing involuntarily at the thought of the Dark Lord and his followers.

Afraid to stay. Afraid to leave.

The road was silent and Draco wondered if a bus was coming at all and, if it came, if he would get on it. He recalled in the darkness how Snape had called him a coward and found himself solemnly agreeing with him.

"You are a coward." he told himself as he pulled his knees up under his chin. The sound of his voice was muffled by the violent down pour of rain.

A wave of self hatred brought tears to the corners of his eyes, but he wiped them away hurriedly. He knew that if he started crying he would not be able to stop and he had not allowed a single tear to escape his eyes since Snape's decision. So he was not about to start that now. But there was nothing that he could do about the feeling of weakness that had come onto him. He hated how driven by selfishness and fear he was, but that was not anything he could help, was it?

He was self-absorbed by nature and he had never seen that as a weakness before. Playing the hero was a Gryffindor thing; it was Potter's thing. Draco pondered over this, amazed that it could possibly be anyone's second nature to help others. For a small instant he envied Potter for his blind bravery, but that moment passed quickly. Potter was a reckless idiot.

Draco uncurled himself and leaned back against the wet bench to welcome the rain which had shrunk to a small drizzle. It had plastered his blond hair to his head so that his bangs lay against his cheeks. This was an unusual sensation to him as he usually kept his hair slicked back the way his father did.

Draco wondered what Potter, Weasley, and the Mud-Blood were up to at that very moment and realized that they were working to accomplish the same goal he was: destroy the Death Eaters and their master. He laughed as he recognized the huge shift in his goal over the past year. He had practically joined their side. How bizarre that would be, he imagined, to walk up to Hermione Granger after all the years of being enemies and say "you were right; where do I sign up"? As if his pride would ever allow him to do that!

Besides, he was not on their side. They were fighting because they thought it was the right thing to do whereas he was fighting to avenge his mother and rid himself of the Dark Lord's shadow. He was not with them or against them. Draco Malfoy was on his own side and what was wrong with that?

The problem was that Draco could not help feeling that there _was_ something wrong with that. Why, though? He had never seen anything wrong with caring only about himself. Why should he put himself at risk to save others? Why should he put himself at risk to save Zeta?

Draco's mind took an ugly turn. His heart sped up as he remembered Zeta lying bare-chested in the dirt with her own blood pooling around her. Her eyes had been so wide and frightened as they looked to him and pleaded desperately for help. He could have saved her. His stomach convulsed again and his whole body shook with fear and sickness. She was probably still lying there, or worse. The image was so vivid that it seemed as though the clock had really turned back a few hours, forcing him to live through it again.

_I could not have saved her even if I wasn't a coward; not without a wand I couldn't_, Draco thought.

The important thing was that he had saved himself, right? No. That was not right. Something was eating him inside and he knew that it was guilt. He felt guilty about running and leaving her there…to die. Another rush of self-hatred flooded the fiber of his body.

Why did he care so much about Zeta anyway? She was just a Squib, even if she was pretty smart for a Squib. But they only ever brought shame onto the magical world. At least, that was what he had been taught. When did he start caring about her so much? Was it when she tried to kiss him? No.

Draco began to trace back through his memory over everything that had happened over the past few months and ended up at the beginning: when he was forced into exile as a Muggle.

AN: Readers who recognize this prologue are not experiencing deja-vu. I have rewritten Muggle Boy to enhance the reading. The story is fully written now so all I need to do is upload the chapters one by one. This story will be updated weekly; on every Wednesday you may expect the next installment. Enjoy Draco's adventure! Your feedback is important to me!


	2. Exiled

Ch. 1

Exiled

The blue taxi cab spluttered its way through the marshland that seemed to stretch on forever in every direction like a desolate, soggy desert. Draco glowered through the window at it, thinking of all the places he would much rather be. Beside him sat Snape who was staring strait ahead with his hands folded calmly on his lap. Draco still felt betrayed by Snape, but his anger had subsided slightly.

He had made up his mind to humor Snape that morning and pretend that he would be a good boy and run along to be a Muggle. But as soon as Snape had his back turned Draco would make a run for it. He would rather take his chances with the Death Eaters.

"I would think," said Draco testily, "that you would want to get me out of the country. Why not send me to France?"

"You don't speak French." Snape replied without looking at Draco.

"I could learn quickly enough." He put on his cockiest voice, but Snape was not amused.

"The only reason I'm here in this taxi with you right now is to take you someplace safe where you can hide for a while. This is for your own good and I've been growing impatient with your complaints! I'm here to help you so you can either shut up and except it or get out and fend for yourself!"

Snape's voice was at a dangerous pitch so Draco decided that it would be in his best interest not to answer back. Instead he turned moodily in his seat so that his back was facing Snape and glowered out the window some more. He tugged uncomfortably at his Muggle cloths. He felt funny without a robe on. His eyes, once malicious, now stared out at the world in a dead sort of way. Part of Draco Malfoy had died last year. He was not sure which part of him had died in particular; just bits and pieces of himself, he supposed.

A decrepit wooden sign whizzed past and Draco read the words painted in dripping yellow letters on the dilapidated surface: Badger's Drift Boarding School, 5 miles. There was a lonely bench beside the sign and Draco wondered if Muggle buses even came out this far.

"Where exactly are you putting me?" Draco asked warily.

"Oh, it's not so bad. I picked Badger's Drift because it is out of the way and generally unheard of." Snape's eyes glinted. "You don't need to know_where_ you are. Your location is supposed to be a secret."

"Yeah, well," Draco muttered, "I'd rather it wasn't a secret to _me_."

He craned his neck to look over the driver's shoulder at the road ahead, but saw nothing other than another blue cab ahead of them on the road. There was an endless marshland them and the tops of a few pine trees in the distance. The sight forcibly reminded him of a wizard prison that his father had told him about once. It was located in central northern Russia: an icy wasteland where prison guards did not bother to watch their prisoners. Even if the criminals managed to escape, it was impossible for them survive on the ice for the five days it would take to reach a settlement.

"Someone I know has been staying at this boarding school for years." Snape said, breaking the silence. "She's a Squib named Zeta and I've asked her to keep an eye on you."

"I don't need looking after by some retarded girl!" Draco spat, feeling as though he really was headed for that Russian prison.

"She happens to be one of the only people you can trust so I hope you won't treat her like dirt! Not that I expected you to miraculously grow a brain and a set of manners over the summer."

Draco blushed furiously at Snape's insult, but said nothing.

Snape continued, "I know that I've already told you this, but remember that you can't use owls. The Death Eaters can trace them far too easily so just use the Muggle post if you need to contact me."

"Alright." Draco grumbled. He already had a fight with Snape over the post and lost.

"Good." said Snape, satisfied.

"Will you give me my father's address, please?" The please on the end of Draco's question sounded more like a threat than a polite request, but Snape either did not notice or did not care.

He answered Draco with a raised eyebrow and said, "We've talked about this, Draco. It's dangerous."

"But, I haven't spoken to him in months!" he complained. "All I get is relayed messages from you and it's driving me crazy! How do I even know you've been speaking to him? He could be dead already for all I know."

"Don't you trust me, Draco?"

_No, _Draco thought, _I'm not sure that I trust you at all_.

"Here we are." said the cab driver tonelessly.

The road had entered a thick bunch of trees and Draco was relieved to see that the marshland ended. Now he saw another sign going past that read: Badger's Drift Boarding School. As the cab car turned a corner, Draco could see ornate brick buildings spread out on a large, unkempt grassy field. The school had an eerie beauty. Vines crept up the legs of the great brick giants whose stones were a faded charcoal shade of red, obscured by years of growing vegetation.

Draco felt nervous. It seemed as if the front most building -- a church like structure with a tall bell tower -- was staring at him as he got out of the cab and retrieved his trunk from the back compartment. The large, damp forest around them seemed to be breathing with the wind. He wanted to ask Snape if he was sure it would be safe here, but he knew that Snape would sneer so he kept it to himself.

Snape got out of the cab carrying a small wrapped parcel in his long, pale fingers which he handed to Draco.

"It's a journal," he said, "so you can write about what it's like to be a Muggle. That way, someday when you're dead and gone, others can marvel at your discoveries."

Draco raised the book, ready to chuck it at Snape with all his might. "Ha, ha," he said without humor, "that's too funny."

"It wasn't a joke." Snape replied, but he was smiling in a rather wicked way. "You know to stay out of trouble," he continued, "and not draw attention to yourself, don't you? It's dangerous, hiding from the Dark Lord, and it's not a game."

"I know that!" snapped Draco, feeling nervous again. He reached into his pocket for the reassuring feel of his wand…but it was not there!

Draco gasped and felt around all of his pockets desperately while Snape watched him with raised eyebrows. "What is it, Draco?" he asked.

"My wand!" Draco cried. "Where's my wand!?"

Snape's wicked smile widened and Draco's mouth fell open. He could not believe that Snape would dare do that to him!

Trying to be calm and sound polite Draco whispered jerkily, "Please may I have my wand back?"

"I was serious, Draco, when I said you had to go into temporary hiding as a Muggle."

"No!" yelled Draco. This was ridiculous! He couldn't survive without a wand! "I can't fend off Death Eaters without my wand! I'm not sure I can _live_ without my wand!"

"The reason that you're here is so that you won't _have_ to fend off Death Eaters. I agree that you might find it…difficult to live without a wand, but I'm sure you can manage."

"Have you gone crazy?" Draco was still yelling and the cab driver was looking uneasy. "Why can't I have my wand? Why didn't you say anything about this before when we were making plans?"

"Calm down, Draco." Snape said in a falsely soothing voice. "You can't have your wand with you because then you would be tempted to use it and the Death Eaters have learned to trace wands."

"What?" Draco felt another pang of worry, "They can do that?"

"They took Olivander's journals and have figured out how to pin point the location of a wand. It does not even really require that the wand is being used just as long as a spell was cast recently." Snape explained. "Your wand is being hunted and I plan to throw them off your scent."

Draco knew that this was a perfectly reasonable answer, but he was still angry anyway. Not having a wand would defiantly spoil his plans. "Why couldn't you tell me this earlier?" he barked.

"Because I knew that you would behave like this." Snape answered shortly and Draco felt his face turn red with anger.

Snape turned around to get back in the cab and said, "Goodbye, Draco. Have fun being a Muggle."

The cab drove off, leaving Draco fuming on the front lawn of his new school without a wand. It was as though Snape had known Draco's plans all along and done everything in his power to ruin them. Draco had planned to Apparate to London to an apartment his father told him they owned in a Muggle district. Only his mother, his father, and he knew about the apartment and Draco had a hunch that his father would be there.

Draco had no intention of staying in a Muggle institution to learn Muggle crap. That was way he had packed his trunk with spell books instead of the requested books for his curriculum in Muggle hell. He did not know what he was going to do now.

Draco's murderous thoughts of Snape were interrupted by the loud slam of a cab car trunk. The car that had been ahead of them on the road was still parked in the driveway and its passengers were having a row.

"Edmund, give me the bloody cigarettes!"

"You need to relax, mum," said a boy as he struggled to pull a duffel bag from the back seat, "it's just tobacco. You're freaking out over nothing! Again!"

"Why the hell do you think you're here?" screamed the woman, "This needs to stop!"

"Just get out of here! I'm clean! I worked really hard to get here and you're lucky I agreed to do this at all!" The boy turned his back on the car and started to march towards the campus.

Edmund had brown curly hair and broad shoulders that seemed to stretch out the leather jacket he was wearing. The boy paused next to Draco to wave goodbye to the cab. Once he was sure that it was out of sight, he pulled a slender cigarette out of his back pocket and lit it.

"You want one?" The boy held a second one up to Draco. He had a heavy Irish accent.

"No." Draco wrinkled his nose as Edmund exhaled in his face.

"Oh, sorry. Just thought it'd be polite to offer." Edmund flicked his lighter shut and took a deep drag. "I've got to get rid of them before the school year officially starts. They do let you do _anything_ at Beady."

"Beady? What the hell is that?"

Edmund's brows lowered. "God, you're grumpy. B.D., you know? Stands for Badger's Drift. One step away from Saint Brutus'. Lucky we weren't tossed in there, eh?"

"Yeah. Right." Draco wanted nothing to do with this Muggle. Without another word to the boy, he picked up one end of his trunk and started to drag it in, what he hoped was, the direction of the headmistress' office.

But, to his dismay, Edmund followed after. "Hey, wait up! I'm new here, do you…"

"No, I don't." Draco interrupted testily.

"Oh! You're new too, eh? Hey, I'll bet we're gonna be room mates! What's your name roomie?"

"Draco." he said, without thinking. _Oh no!_ Draco thought, _Wasn't I supposed to have a code name or something? _"Um, Draco Williams." he recovered. _What a stupid code name. _

Edmund gave Draco a smile that was not returned. Draco was busily imagining all of the wonderful curses he would cast on his new room mate if only he had his wand.

Suddenly, Draco was stopped from walking any further by his trunk. Edmund stopped too and extinguished his cigarette. They turned to see another boy had his foot on Draco's trunk, preventing him from dragging it along.

"Hey," said the boy with a nasty smile, "I'm Terrance."

Terrance had a mane of floppy black hair that fell over his strong forehead into his face. His skin was a milky brown and his facial features were sharp like Draco's. High cheek bones framed his handsome, but malicious brown eyes.

"Hey Terrance, I'm Edmund." Edmund held out his hand, but the boy did not take it.

"We see you've got some cigarettes there, laddie buck." said Terrance, making fun of Edmund's strong accent.

A gang had formed up around Terrance and the two new comers and Draco felt fresh anger welling inside of him. _These Muggles need to shove it before I lose it, _he thought to himself.

"Yeah, whatever," he said, "could you get your foot off my trunk, Mugg-, I mean please."

"What's with the antique?" Terrance replied, without removing his foot.

"You put stuff in it, Terrance," said Edmund slowly, "it's a trunk."

"Stuff it Danny Boy. That's an awful big lock you got on your trunk there kid. How much you want to bet that I can get it open?" Terrance sneered and the gang behind him laughed.

The truth was that Draco would have loved to watch Terrance suffer through a fruitless lock-picking. His trunk was guarded by magic and the bully would probably hurt himself trying to open it. _No, Draco,_ he thought, _that's a dumb idea. We're keeping out of trouble._

It would have been stupid for Draco to blow his cover before he had even come up with an escape plan. So instead of getting angry, Draco jerked his trunk out from under Terrance. He went sprawling onto the grass and Draco walked away.

As they walked deeper into the crowded campus they heard Terrance call after them, "Just stay out of my way, kid."

"No, Terrance," Draco muttered so Edmund couldn't hear, "You stay out of _my_ way."

AN: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. ;) Keep reading and I'll keep writing. The next chapter is titled Zeta.


	3. Zeta

Ch.2

Zeta

Brilliant golden light shone through the tinged library windows. Obscured by the dust, it cast dappled shadows over the thin bookshelves and their meager occupants which were also covered with dust. The vaulted ceilings magnified every lonely sound: the faint snores of the bored librarian, for example. It was as though nothing in the place had ever been touched.

Untouched except, of course, for a lone table in the center of the room. It was the only place that Draco could sit and do his homework. The legs of the old desk creaked with the effort to support the massive piles of books upon it. Draco peered around his prison of books to glare at the snoring librarian.

His day had only gone from bad to worse. Edmund led him to the office of Headmistress Diana where they were subjected to a rigorous placement test. Apparently Edmund was very smart because he was placed in the "A-class" which was a select and advanced group of students. Draco, on the other hand, had no clue when it came to Muggle sciences and arithmetic. His passable literature score could do nothing to save him from the "F-class".

"Maybe Edmund can tutor you," said the headmistress, not too kindly, as she handed him his results, "You'll be room mates so perhaps you'll pick up some of his study habits."

Draco still felt embarrassed._Did she have to say it in front of the Muggle?_ He thought, _not that I care what he thinks._ But, there was something about the fact that Edmund, a mere Muggle, had beaten him at something that bothered Draco. _It was just stupid Muggle stuff. Like I even need to know that crap._

After they had been placed into classes, Headmistress Diana sent them to the dormitory to pick up their uniforms and keys. The two of them were met by the dorm president, Michael. Draco and Edmund were issued white trousers, long sleeved button-up black shirts with sharp starched collars, and long, thick white winter coats. They were also given Russian-inspired, furry black Cossacks with flaps that came down to cover the ears and slick black gloves.

Edmund whistled. "These are _nice_."

"Glad you like them," said Michael, tugging his collar, "because you won't be wearing anything else for a while."

When Edmund laughed at this the dorm president said, "No, really. The details of all the rules are on your door, but basically we are not permitted to wear casual clothing outside the dormitory."

Draco and Edmund glanced at each other. "Except on weekends, of course." said Edmund.

Michael shook his head. "No. Never. Welcome to Beady."

He took them to their room on the second floor. The room was very simple and small: two beds, two desks, one small window, and one heater underneath it. There was hardly enough room for Draco and Edmund to stand beside each other with their arms spread. The beds didn't look that comfortable either.

Michael handed them their magnetized keys. "These are for the boy's dormitory building which is locked at all hours. To get in, you just slide the silver side through the door knob. Your personal room, however, has no lock."

"Excuse me?" said Draco, shocked. "I'm not sleeping in a room that doesn't have a lock on the door."

"It's policy," said Michael, "get over it."

"But what if my stuff --"

"There's only one boy's dormitory and only about a hundred boys here. We've got video surveillance all around the building and harsh punishments for law-breakers. We're very strict. Nobody's stupid enough to try and steal something." Michael replied curtly.

Draco knew for a fact that strict rules never stopped anyone determined to break them, but before he had the chance to tell this to Michael, the dorm president had left them.

"That kid's got something up his ass," said Edmund, claiming the narrow bed on the right by dumping his stuff out onto it. "And don't think I'm tutoring you. I don't know how to study so I'd probably just mess you up worse."

Edmund laughed in a friendly way and helped Draco heave the trunk onto the bed, but Draco did not feel like smiling.

He didn't unpack his trunk which turned out to be a smart decision because, when he and Edmund left the room to meet their new teachers, his trunk was stolen. Not two hours after Michael had assured them otherwise, a theft occurred. And it was not a big mystery who took it. Draco wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or scream at the thought of Terrance trying to pick the magical lock.

No, Draco's day was no laughing matter. Draco was horrified to find that he could not simply take a seat in the back of the class and pretend to listen to the teacher. He spoke with the teachers one-on-one and each had assigned him a pile of homework to complete before class started.

His first interview was with Mrs. Wanlin who said "Another F-class student, hm?" and asked him to take a seat across from her. When she asked him to pull out his math book Draco could only give her a blank stare. This got him into a world of trouble.

Snape had not told him that Muggle school would be like this. This could not be normal. The small class sizes, the creepy location, the uniform, the weird rules: it all added up to one thing. Draco really _had_ been sent to prison.

Obviously, it was found out that he did not have any of the books he needed for class (why would Draco Malfoy waste money on Muggle studies?) and so he was forced to borrow from the library. The only catch was that books from the library in Badger's Drift were not allowed to be taken from the library. Draco felt that this policy defeated the whole purpose of having a library, but he was not in a position to argue.

So, Draco had to come into the library everyday to use the books and the computer or else the teachers would realize that he was not attending their school to learn at all. That would lead to trouble which Draco really didn't want. Even if he got expelled from Beady he was sure that Snape would just find another equally nasty institution to stick him into. This was going to be harder than Draco had thought.

The librarian fidgeted in her sleep and for a moment it looked as though she would fall out of her chair. _I hate this place,_ thought Draco, vehemently, _I hate this library. I hate these books. I hate these Muggles and I hate hate hate Severus Snape! _

Worse than his new living arrangements were the classes Draco had to take. In English he had already been assigned three books to finish by the end of the month and an essay to write for remedial Biology. But Biology looked like a trip to Honeydukes' compared to trigonometry. Why would they put the "F-class", supposedly the dumbest students, through trig? Draco had never seen so many ugly numbers and triangles before in his life!

Draco was enraged that he had been backed into a corner like this. He did not want to learn any of this stuff, but he was being forced. His anger only intensified the headache that had started after he had finished his Biology essay on the definition of organism. Now he was trapped in endless contemplation of sine, cosine, and tangent.

_I wonder where that bastard took my trunk._ Draco thought angrily.

"No. Let's see, Draco, focus" he thought aloud to himself as he stared at question one, "sine is the adjacent side over the hypotenuse which is the longest side…I think."

But he was distracted from his frustrating thoughts when he looked up to see a pair of wide green eyes surveying him from over his mound of books. Draco jumped in surprise and gave a small yelp which caused the owner of the eyes to laugh softly.

"What the hell?!" Draco protested.

A small Spanish-looking girl with long curling brown hair stepped around the table and sat down in the vacant seat next to him with her legs crossed. A heart-shaped face smiled at him through the sheets of gloriously thick hair. She was wearing the school uniform for the girls which was identical to the boy's uniform except that the colors were reversed. The black jacket was hanging off her shoulders, but her arms were not through the sleeves and she had the pleated black skirt pinned up above the knee to reveal her bronze, awkwardly skinny legs.

"Sine is the opposite side over the hypotenuse." she said jovially as though Draco had invited her to sit down with him.

"What?" he asked, slightly stunned by her appearance.

"You just said that sine is adjacent over hypotenuse, but that's cosine." she replied simply.

Draco grunted, feeling a little stupid. "Would you go away?" he said, irritated.

His visitor seemed undaunted by his impolite response to her help. As a matter of fact, she just continued to smile at him warmly and said, "I can help you, if you need it."

Draco did not answer her. He put he face down to his paper and began to write the first answer. Maybe if he ignored her she would go away.

For nearly an hour the girl sat with him, looking over his shoulder to make comments. After a while he stopped protesting. He actually found her way of saying things extremely helpful, but he did not tell her that.

"There, now you're done." she said after they had completed the assignment.

Draco grunted, not looking at her and went back to his initial attempt at ignoring her.

"I think you mean 'thanks for helping me'." Her voice did not sound irritated, only polite.

Draco turned to look at her for the first time since she had sat down and forced her help on him. She was still sitting with her legs crossed in the chair assessing him calmly through those big green eyes of hers. For some reason he did not feel like arguing so he said "Thanks."

The girl's smile widened just as the librarian gave a terrific, loud snore. Draco glared at the woman again and cursed, "The old bitch."

"You shouldn't be so mad at her." said the girl. "After all she's only just started this year. The former librarian died…unexpectedly…mysteriously…in the woods."

If this was supposed to strike Draco's interest it did not. He placed his book bag in his lap and began to shove his assignments in.

The girl continued as though Draco had shown interest, "Yup, he was found by a student who was so traumatized by the body that they put him in an insane asylum!"

Draco looked at the clock. He still had an hour to walk around campus to try and find his trunk. "People died last year at my old school too." he replied distractedly.

"Someone else died last year. I think he fell into the marsh or something."

Draco shivered, remembering the vast muggy wasteland out by the road. When he snapped out of his brief nightmare it was to see the green eyed girl pointing at his trig assignment.

"What?" he asked.

"You need to put your name, date, and hour on the paper or else she wont except it. Mrs. Wanlin is a real stickler about that." she answered.

"Oh." Draco looked down at the page and spelled out his name at the top.

"Draco Williams." she read. "Hm, I don't think that's really your name."

Draco's stomach flipped. "W-what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

The girl smiled at him again, "You're Draco Malfoy. I thought so."

"You thought so?" Draco was slightly confused for a moment, but then he remembered what Snape had said about a Squib living at the school. "Oh, the Squib." he said flatly.

"I have a name you know."

"I know," Draco felt impatient with her. He did not want anymore help from a Squib. A Squib, moreover, who was probably under orders from Snape to keep an eye on him and make sure that he does not do anything stupid. "It's Zeta, right?"

Zeta smiled. "Last I checked." she said as she held out her hand palm down like she expected him to kiss it.

Without thinking, Draco obliged her. Actually, it was more like he pursed his lips and grazed the back of her hand with his nose. _Why the hell did I do that_, he thought, looking back on the moment. _I could have shaken her hand just as easily. Or, better still, I could have walked away._

He shoved the rest of his papers into his bag and looked up to see her staring at him intently.

"What?" he asked again.

"Well don't you want to know what I think?" She seemed incredulous.

"What do you think about what?"

"About the murder of course!"

"No." he answered truthfully, pushing his chair back to leave. "It's going to be dark in an hour and I really need to find my trunk and end this freaking day."

"What happened to your trunk?" she asked, momentarily distracted.

"Nothing, just this jerk," Draco stood up, "It's none of your business."

"Oh, it was probably Terrance, right? He always does stuff like that. Anyway, come on, you're really gonna want to know what happened." said Zeta, holding his shoulder. She leaned in again as though she had some wonderful secret.

"No, I don't care." said Draco.

Zeta was not the sort of person to take "no" for an answer. She continued as her eyes grew wide, "Vampires!"

Draco sat back down. "That's ridiculous."

"Well, I don't think it's so ridiculous. You see," she looked around at the sleeping librarian and then leaned in closer before continuing, "I met the poor kid after he saw the body. He came out of the forest and looked and me and started yelling a bunch of stuff about how the librarian was so white he could see through him with blood all around. And get this: he said there were holes in the dead man's neck!"

Draco rolled his eyes at her and said, in a patronizing way, "Look, if there was any sign that it was a vampire attack the Ministry of Magic would have come to dispose of the vampire. They aren't stupid. If there's the slightest sign of a vampire, even if it's only attacking Muggles, they come in and take care of it."

Later he thought, _why didn't I just leave? No, I had to stay and patronize her stupid little theory._

Draco stood up; it felt good to stretch his legs after all that sitting and he was looking forward to being alone again with his thoughts. But, Zeta was out of her chair after Draco and beat him to the library doors. She blocked his way into the hall.

"Listen," she said, "I only know what I heard and I think that what this kid said was pretty interesting and worth investigating. He was pretty spooked and I think that there might be a vampire around here somewhere."

"There is no vampire!" said Draco, genuinely annoyed.

"But, what if there is? What if it's one of the students? It wouldn't hurt to look around." Her eyes were set in a determined stare.

"Zeta, I'm not going to help you find some vampire that doesn't exist. Would you move your ass? I need to go find my trunk!"

"But, you've been to that Wizarding school, Hogwarts." Her voice was laced with longing which Draco heard, but ignored. "You must know all about vampires! You could at least tell me what to look for."

"No."

Draco pushed roughly past her and through the door. But, as he was walking down the hall, he heard her voice speaking softly behind him.

"I know where they put it."

Draco whirled around to face her angrily. Zeta was leaning against the wall, pretending buff her perfectly manicured nails smugly.

"I know where Terrance put your stuff. And you know I would help you, but you haven't exactly been nice to me."

He felt completely defeated which did nothing to improve his foul mood.

"Alright," he breathed through gritted teeth, "I guess I'll help you _a little bit. But_, only after I have my trunk!"

Zeta's heart-shaped face broke into a wide grin. "C'mon." she said. She started to run down the hall, her sleek brown curls flying behind her, leaving the frustrated Draco no choice but to run after her.


	4. The Shed

AN: I just want to thank all the readers so far. Every time I check up on my story and see the increased number of visitors it brings a ray of sunshine to my day. So thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy Muggle Boy. :)

Ch.3

The Shed

Draco followed Zeta through the school in the growing twilight. Long shadows from school buildings were thrown down on them and kept Draco from seeing where she was leading him. The peaceful evening breeze nipped at him lazily, chilling his face and hands. Suddenly he found himself on the edge of the forest and stopped, instantly cautious. But Zeta did not seem to care at all. She was already in the trees, unaware of Draco's qualms.

"Wait, Zeta!" he called after her.

She stopped and turned around. "What is it? Come on, we have to get there and back before curfew!"

He gulped, not wanting her to laugh at him, but he was looking at the perverse, abnormal willows which were starring back at him. The setting sun's light did not reach back into the vast expanse of trees so it was very dark in there. If there was one thing Draco had learned at Hogwarts it was: never walk into a dark forest if you do not know what lives there.

Rolling her eyes, Zeta ran back and grabbed Draco by the collar. "Don't be stupid." she said, pulling him into the darkness.

"Get off." said Draco, pushing her arm away. But, he followed her as she took him down unfamiliar paths that twisted back into the trees.

Zeta looked back at him, "Are you scared of something?"

"Scared of what?" he sneered, trying his best not to betray his true fear. The first time he had been in a creepy forest like this, Potter led him to a blood sucking monster. The image of the menacing, cloaked figure with silvery unicorn blood down its front was hard to shake off.

Somehow it made Draco think of the Dark Lord and he shivered unpleasantly._Does he know where I am? Is he here? Waiting. What about my father? Is he safe? _These questions did nothing to calm his beating heart, so instead he tried to focus only on Zeta in front of him and the narrow path under his feet.

Finally they stopped and she spoke. "Yeah, I'm sorry it's so far out here, but that's the shed." Zeta was pointing at a small cabin ahead that was nearly swallowed by moss and vines.

"Is it…safe?" Draco asked as he wrinkled his nose. It looked as though the structure might collapse at any moment.

Instead of answering him, Zeta skipped forward and creaked open the oaken door, beckoning him inside.

Draco followed her. The shed, instead of the gardening tools he had expected, was filled with random items. Watches, duffel bags, jars of candy, and scooters were the most common objects about the place. There was a bike leaning against the wall to their left and a table in the center of the mess. There were also a couple of chairs hiding under piles of cloths, most of them uniforms. Draco glanced in every direction and was extremely pleased to see his trunk sitting patiently in a damp corner.

"There it is!" he said, pointing it out. With relief, he saw that it was unopened.

Zeta went over to his trunk and pulled an odd green hair pin from her pocket. "Terrance and his gang hide all the things they steal here. None of the other students know that it exists."

"_You_ know about it."

Zeta continued as though Draco had not commented, "This was the janitor's shed. He never liked it because it was so far out from the school, but after the librarian…you know…he used the incident as an excuse never to come back again. So Headmistress Diana had a new place built for him on the grounds and they never got around to getting rid of this old thing."

"Hm." said Draco, not paying Zeta much attention as he reached his hand into a promising jar of candy.

"I wouldn't take one of those if I were you," she said, "because we don't know how long they've been sitting out here."

Draco recoiled his hand instantly. Suddenly the jar did not look so promising. "Sealing things and hiding them? That's so pointless." Draco had done his share of stealing, but at least he had used the things he stole. "Why the hell does he do it?"

"I don't know," answered Zeta, "to prove a point? Pirates used to hide treasure all the time. "

Draco snorted and clambered over Terrance's "pirate treasure" to get his trunk. "What are you doing?"

"Opening your stuff." she answered, smiling. "Done!"

"Hey!" Draco was extremely irritated to see the lid of his trunk pop open and the contents come flying out. Books and parchment spilled out and lay strewn over the creaking floor. He could see that the lock had been opened.

"Whoops," she said blushing, "That wasn't quite what I meant to do."

Draco's cold blue eyes flashed up to Zeta's face. "How did you do that?" he asked. "My lock can't be picked that easily."

"I'm not a Muggle," she reminded him, "I come from a magical family. Just because I can't do magic doesn't mean that I don't have any magical items. Though, apparently I can't use them all that well"

She looked a little sad for a moment, but then slipped the green hair pin back into her pocket as she kneel down to pick up Advanced Transfiguration Grade 7. "Fascinating…" she mumbled, opening it.

Draco quickly spotted his stuffed bear, Merlin, lying among the ruble and grabbed him. This Squib did not need to know about Merlin. He stuffed the bear back into his trunk and began scrapping other items back in as well. The Monster Book of Monsters was particularly hard to push back in, even though it was bound.

"If you wanted to read my books," said Draco petulantly, struggling with the Monster Book "why didn't you just ask?"

"Would you have let me see them?" she asked, blinking up at him.

"No." He snatched Advanced Transfiguration from her and threw it on top of the Monster Book viciously.

Her fingers free, Zeta leaned over and picked up a small leather book that was still on the floor. "Oh," she said teasingly, "What's this, Draco, a diary?"

"There's nothing written in it." he answered, closing the lid of his trunk with a snap.

"Why not?" she asked, obviously disappointed as she flipped through the pages.

"Because I have no intention of ever using it." Draco was tired of her questions and growing impatient.

But then, a thought occurred to him and he opened his trunk again. His eyes fell over the table and chairs. Even though the light was inadequate and the floors were damp and creaky…

"So, nobody else knows about this place at all? Nobody comes here regularly." he asked Zeta casually.

"Just Terrance and some of his closer friends. They usually sneak out on the nights when Terrance doesn't have detention."

"So they just hang out here at night sometimes?"

"Nobody else likes to come out here ever since the librarian." said Zeta, "Actually, I'm not even sure that we're allowed. I'm telling you, something supernatural went down in these woods."

Draco did not answer her. Somehow the sight of the dark, depressing shed had inspired him with a new plan. _Maybe I should just leave the magic books here in the trunk. Terrance can't open it and nobody else comes around…maybe I can still study Defense Against the Dark Arts. It's better than sitting around waiting for Snape to fix things. I have no contact with my father and there's nothing but Death Eaters waiting for me out there. Maybe lying low and staying sharp isn't such a bad idea. _

Sometimes his plans in the past had proven sub par, but Draco felt confident that, without a wand as he was, intensifying his studies was the best thing that he could do. For the time being.

Zeta was unaware of Draco's plotting and was looking at the journal curiously. She asked, "Did Severus Snape give you this journal?"

This question distracted Draco from congratulating himself on his brilliant scheme. That was the first time he had heard another student use Snape's full name.

He nodded thoughtfully in answer to her question just as she asked another, "Can I have it then, since you don't want it?"

"I guess you can have it." he said.

She smiled warmly at him and for some reason Draco found himself telling her what was on his mind. "You're so freaking weird. Not that I've been counting, but I've never heard a student say Snape's full name before."

"Well," she answered, slipping the journal under her arm and ignoring Draco's abuse, "he _did_ save my life. Besides, it's just respectful to use someone's full name, you know."

An automated bell rang off in the distance and hey both jumped. "Oh shit!" Zeta exclaimed. "That was the curfew bell!"

* * *

Edmund was impressed. "How'd you get your stuff back so fast?" he asked when Draco entered their room with stacks of clothes and papers in his arms. "Did Michael give Terrance bathroom duty? What _is _the punishment for theft?"

"I dunno." said Draco. He just wanted to go to bed. This day had lasted long enough.

"Where's your trunk? Do you need help with it?"

"No." Draco started stuffing things into his desk drawer moodily.

Terrance had said the same thing when he saw Draco walking down the hall. "I hope you didn't have to send away for new things." he had said with an evil glint in his eye. _As though he had done something clever. What a loser, _Draco thought. _The only thing I'm sending away for is a good lock._

"Wait, they caught Terrance, right? They found your things." Edmund did not seem to realize that his room mate was angry and wanted him to piss off.

"Someone caught Terrance doing what?" said a boy's voice from the hall.

Draco and Edmund looked up to the open doorway and saw a small boy with cropped brown hair looking in at them. He was dressed in blue flannel pajamas that were much too big for him because he had to roll up the sleeves. His brown eyes seemed to be too spread apart on his round face.

"Well, Draco's trunk was stolen earlier today and we suspect that Terrance did it." said Edmund, indicating that the new boy should come in and sit down.

"You brought a trunk to school? For real?" The boy stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Draco did not respond. He took off his jacket and lay down on his bed. _Why are these people so nosy?_

"Don't mind him," Edmund apologized for him, "he's just had a crappy day. I'm Edmund and that's Draco."

The boy laughed, "Yeah, well, I guess I wouldn't be too happy if I had to lug a trunk around campus. I'm Simon." He and Edmund bumped fists. "I room with Terrance down the hall."

"Seriously?" Edmund raised his eyebrows, "I am so sorry."

"I got over it after the second year." said Simon, shrugging. "I figure God's just teaching me patience. By the time I graduate B.D. I'll be one chill son of a bitch."

"You seem pretty chill to me" said Edmund.

Simon laughed at that. "It took a lot of practice. I used to be pretty mean. My mum decided to send me here after I pushed my prick-father off a moving train. He beats her and _I'm_ the one they send to an institution."

"Woah," said Edmund. They both sat down on Draco's bed together. "Is he --"

"Just in a wheel chair. I didn't even mean to push him that hard, but I was really angry."

Draco sat up. He was not annoyed that they chose his bed to sit down on. He was enthralled with Simon's story. The little boy with brown hair and oversized pajama's did not look threatening at all.

His staring did not go unnoticed. "You got a problem with that?" Simon asked.

"Not at all." Draco looked away and leaned back against the wall.

But Simon was smiling. "So," he said, "what did you do?"

"What?" Draco asked.

"I mean, why are you here? You don't get into an upstanding institution like B.D. because society loves you. What's your story Edmund? You don't seem like such a bad guy."

"Thank you." Edmund replied with a grin, "My story's not half as exciting as yours; I just did a lot of drugs. But, I'm clean now so don't ask me to hook you up."

Suddenly, the door to their room swung open and all three of them jumped in surprise. It was Michael with a flashlight and a clipboard in his hands.

"Half an hour. Draco, one demerit for coming back after curfew. Simon, get back to your room." Then he slammed the door shut without another word.

"Is there no privacy here?" Edmund asked, feeling harassed.

"Oh, that's right," said Simon, "You guys just got here. Yeah, don't expect any privacy. Michael comes around to every door to tell everyone what they're doing wrong and how long until lights out. Then he comes around again to make sure that the lights are out. Didn't you guys read the rules and regulations?"

"What?" said Draco, pointing, "You mean the massive manual hanging on the back of the door?"

Edmund laughed, "Don't tell me anyone's actually read the whole thing?"

"No, not really," said Simon, laughing too, "but if you get confused it's good to look stuff up. Sometimes I have to check to make sure that I'm not breaking a rule before I do something."

"If you have to look it up," said Edmund, "then I'm sure it's not a rule."

"You would be surprised." Simon replied, "On my first day I found out that 'sucks' is a cuss word that will earn you a demerit. When the teacher said I'd earned a demerit I said 'that sucks' and earned another demerit. It was pretty freaking funny."

"So did you get detention or what?" asked Edmund.

"Yeah. I had five demerits by the end of the day so I had to run ten laps with five pound weights in each hand. It wasn't so bad. The worst part was that they make you do it at night in the dark so that you're super tired the next morning."

"That's actually sort of harsh." Edmund said, furrowing his brow.

"Oh, running laps is just for the minor stuff. I've never seen anyone running who had more than ten demerits. You should have seen what happened when I died my hair. Fifty demerits or something like that? They call it 'silent study'. They put you in a little tiny room with a pen and a piece of paper and tell you to write an essay or lines or something _every night_ until they feel satisfied that you've learned your lesson. From 11 to 3 in the morning I had to be in there until the hair dye washed out."

"Woah, I'm sorry mate." said Edmund, sounding shocked.

"Yeah, well, now I read the rules."

"So," Edmund looked over at Draco, "how many demerits so you suppose Terrance will get for stealing your trunk."

"Oh yeah!" said Simon, remembering why he had come into their room in the first place, "So Terrance finally got caught stealing stuff? It's about time."

"Actually no," said Draco, "I went and found my stuff, but I'm pretty sure Terrance took the trunk."

"Where'd you find it?" they asked.

"Just, in the woods." said Draco, vaguely. Too many other people knew about the secret shed already and he did not need anyone getting in his way.

Simon leaned back, disappointed. "I guess I'm not surprised."

"But what about the cameras?" Edmund asked, frustrated. "They must have caught him on video."

"Video?" Draco asked, feeling stupid again.

"Yeah, remember Michael said that they have video surveillance all over the buildings and in the halls? How can he get away with it if they have pictures of him doing it?"

"That's the thing." said Simon, "He get's away with it somehow. I can't tell you how many times things have gone missing in this place and Michael has done nothing."

The door swung open again, but before Michael could shout at them, Simon stood up.

"On my way out," he said, "But, Michael, Draco's trunk was stolen today and --"

"I tired of you guys doing this." said Michael, "There's nothing on the cameras to imply that Terrance has stolen _anything_. Go. To. Bed. Simon. Two demerits for Simon and one each for Edmund and Draco."

"I'm going I'm going." said Simon, gritting his teeth. "Night guys."

When Simon walked out, Michael flicked off the light. But Draco and Edmund were not in the mood to sleep. Draco drummed his fingers on the side table, thinking. _If only Terrance had detention, he wouldn't be able visit the shed._

In the dark, Edmund saw the thoughtful expression on Draco's face and he dawned a mischievous grin. "What are you thinking about, roomie?"

"I'm thinking about getting Terrance that detention he deserves." said Draco, darkly.

"Really? Well, I know that they keep bleach in the laundry room downstairs. I also know that Terrance keeps his shampoo in a cubby in the bathroom." He held his hand, the wicked smile still on his face, and Draco shook it.

As Draco put on his pajamas and crawled onto his stiff mattress, he was genuinely smiling for the first time in a long time.

* * *

As Draco was falling asleep with pleasant thoughts of revenge, Zeta was following the road that would lead her off the campus. She enjoyed the freedom of slipping through the gate on the driveway and walking out into the lazy summer night.

That freedom was only slightly diminished by the great red pin on her chest that read "PHONE CALL" in large white letters. No phones or electronics of any kind were allowed on the B.D. campus except for the computer in the library. So she, and a select group of other students, were allotted one phone call per week on the pay phone near the bus stop. Thanks to Severus Snape, Zeta got to make this trip at 11:00p.m. every Tuesday night.

She took a deep breath of summer air and sighed. Draco was every bit as rude and sulky as Severus said he would be, but she couldn't help liking him a little.

Zeta mused aloud to herself "He almost reminds me of --" but she did not finish her thought. There was someone up ahead. They were talking in a hushed voice.

Nobody but she was authorized to be outside the grounds tonight. Maybe it was not a student? Zeta left the path and crept along parallel to it. For some reason she was uneasy.

The ground beneath her grew muggy as she got closer to the marsh. When the phone booth was in sight she crouched down behind a thick clump of bushes and from there she listened intently.

There was definitely someone in the old red phone booth. Their voice was muffled, but Zeta was sure she heard a man saying, "Alright". It was as though he was whispering. As though he knew someone was out there eavesdropping.

Suddenly he slammed the phone down on the receiver, making Zeta crouch down further. But, she could vaguely see his silhouette in the moonlight when he left the both though she could not make out his face. He was tall and wearing the long black jacket of a Badger's Drift student.

The figure strode back towards the campus silently and Zeta scurried toward the phone. It was none of her business and it was really no big deal, but she had to know. Closing the booth softly behind her, she hit redial.

_Ring ring. Ring ring._ A woman answered. "Hello?"

"Um, hi." said Zeta, awkwardly, "Who is this?"

"Well, I don't know if you were expecting anyone in particular. You've dialed a pay phone in London." said the woman.

"Where in London, exactly?"

"I'm pretty sure this is Charing Cross Road. You know, at the junction of Old Compton street? Is this where you meant to call?"

"Oh, no I must have made a mistake! Wrong number. Thank you. Sorry." Zeta hung up quickly.


End file.
